FIG. 1a shows a parafoil 101. A parafoil is a wing shaped parachute capable of steerable, controlled descent. Essentially, the parachute aspect of the parafoil causes the parafoil to exhibit a gradual descent, while, the wing aspect of the parafoil permits the parafoil to have a guided flight path. The flight path of a parafoil can be controlled by tugging/releasing lines coupled to the left and right trailing edges of the parafoil. Specifically, as observed in FIG. 1b, a parafoil can be made to turn to the left if the left trailing edge line 102 is tugged/pulled. Likewise, referring to FIG. 1c, a parafoil can be made to turn to the right if the right trailing edge line 103 is tugged/pulled. A parafoil can even be made to momentarily rise, or at least change its pitch upward if both the left and right trailing edge lines 102, 103 are tugged/pulled.
Parafoils have been used for guided drops as a consequence of the ability to control their flight path. In order to successfully land a parafoil at or near some target, however, an individual or person is needed to control the trailing edge lines 102, 103 so as to guide the parafoil with the requisite accuracy. Said another way, the intelligence and sensory abilities of the human brain are needed to manipulate the trailing edge lines 102, 103 of the parafoil in view of the location of the target, the height of the parafoil, the forward and transverse speeds of the parafoil, the roll, yaw and pitch of the parafoil and the presence of winds.
Various applications can be envisioned, however, for automatically guided parafoil drops. For instance, consider a situation where a team of catastrophe surveyors/workers/soldiers are in a remote area and in need of certain supplies. Having the ability to simply attach the needed supplies to the parafoil with some computerized intelligence to control the parafoil's trailing edge lines so as to automatically guide the parafoil and its payload in the vicinity of the surveyors/worker/soldiers would obviate the need for keeping skilled parachutists at the ready in case such a need for supplies arises. Moreover, even if skilled parachutists are available and at the ready, a parachutist would be delivered along with the payload. Without the same skills as the surveyors/workers/soldiers, the parachutist is apt to become a burden for the surveyors/workers/soldiers after the payload has been successfully delivered.